It might only be acting, but some roles that actors take on will still cause worry among their loved ones.
Speaking to local media recently while promoting his new horror movie Kong Tao, Hong Kong actor Philip Keung recounted his family’s objections when he first told them in 2024 he was going to play shaman Ming Ge.
Kong tao is a Hokkien term referring to malicious spells aimed at controlling or harming a person.
“My wife and siblings were worried about me meeting with accidents even if they were small ones. But to me, it’s only acting,” the 59-year-old said.
He added he was attracted to the character because he had never played such a role before in his long career spanning 30-plus years. “I was very captivated by just the movie title alone… I saw lot of things in the script, including the imaging and a lot of elements, and I really like this movie.
“I tried my best to tell my family that I would be okay.”
To assure them, he explained his character and went to pray together with them before the start of filming.
Kong Tao tells the story of journalist Fon (Supassara Thanachat) whose investigation into a group of students who died under mysterious circumstances years earlier leads her into the shadowy world of curses, occult rituals and hidden conspiracies.
During her research, she crosses paths with content creators Potato (Mayiduo), Chen Xin (Glenn Yong), Wei Kang (Eric Lay) and Wei En (Yumi Wong), who travel to Thailand to explore temples and supernatural folklore and later died after terrifying accidents.
Suspecting them to be victims of a powerful curse, Fon and her allies attempt to confront the sorcerer Ming Ge (Philip) and the forces behind the curse.
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Local actor Mayiduo also told us during the interview that his mum was worried about his participation in the film and went to the temple to ask for an amulet for him before filming.
“But I forgot to bring it along,” the 33-year-old laughed.
He added that his wife told him to be careful as she knew he had bigger plans for the acting career: “I told her then I would still film this movie no matter what.
“When the producer contacted me to tell me about the opportunity, I agreed to it without looking at the script or negotiating my salary, because this is my first proper movie role. At the time, I was thinking this was an opportunity that came for me and I would do anything for it.”
Mayiduo has since directed his own comedy film Follow Aunty La (2025) and starred in local movie 3 Good Guys (2026).
Local actor Glenn Yong, 29, shared that his parents had no objections towards him participating in the movie, but he had asked his church friends to pray for him.
On the other hand, Malaysian actor-singer Eric Lay preferred to keep it a secret from his family and friends until the promotional period.
“I only called my mother recently and asked if she wanted to watch it. I understand she is easily worried about me. If I told her about it beforehand, she would be more concerned,” the 31-year-old said.
Strange occurrences on first day of filming
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Despite the various concerns and preparations beforehand, Mayiduo, Glenn and Eric experienced strange occurrences on their first day of filming at Batu Caves in Malaysia.
Mayiduo recalled: “Usually we would pray first before we start filming, but it was different that day. We filmed first in the morning before praying in the afternoon. As we were climbing up to the caves, a few staff members and I fell at locations that people usually won’t fall at.”
Glenn said they were filming at one part of the caves which is not open to the public. In the scene, Chen Xin and his companions are capturing footage of a shrine with a prayer altar inside the caves.
He recounted: “Every time our cameras got near the altar, it would turn off on its own. At first, we NG-ed (no-good scene) and restarted. We filmed around the cave and as we got near the altar, it got cut off again.
“When it happened again as we were filming for the third time, I looked at the director, who looked at me and we just nodded at each other and decided to move on to the next scene. We just knew not to continue because something didn’t seem right.”
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Eric also had similar experiences in the cave while filming that scene.
He said: “I decided not to say anything then because I didn’t want to affect anyone’s mood and it was quite scary for me… I knew about black magic, but I didn’t have much exposure to it or believed much in it, until that day.
“I was standing in a corner of the cave and there was a wall behind me, definitely nobody could stand there. I was sure no one was standing behind me, but as the staff members were preparing for the next scene, I heard whispering, like someone was talking.
“When I turned around, there was nobody and it was pitch black. I felt quite uneasy and creeped out then, so I moved away quietly and stood at a more crowded area.”
Kong Tao, with a special appearance by Mark Lee, is now showing in Singapore cinemas.
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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com
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